Nicholls 'pioneers' use drones to map coast

Published: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 7:45 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 7:45 p.m.

When it comes to surveying and mapping, a Nicholls State University professor says there is nothing more useful than a remote-controlled plane with a camera and other monitoring equipment strapped to it.

That's what the university's Geomatics Department has been using for the past few years, said Professor Balaji Ramachandran, who heads the department. It's a simple concept that allows students to survey an expansive area far quicker than they have before.

Nicholls has used these battery-powered unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, to map the shorelines of barrier islands in the past, and there are future projects in the works. Projects planned to begin in the summer and fall include more barrier island mapping, inspecting offshore oil rigs and monitoring bird habitats, Ramachandran said.

Using a drone rather than a pilot is safer and cheaper, he said. The unmanned aircraft industry has so many potential uses that pilots are concerned it will soon replace them, though current laws require researchers and police to hire pilots to train them in flying the drones.

Under the Federal Aviation Administration's rules, commercial industries do not have access to drones, though they will by 2015, said Charles Easterling, CEO of New Orleans-based Crescent Unmanned Systems. His company has been building unmanned aircraft since 2011 and is working out of the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility.

Ramachandran said he plans to buy a Crescent aircraft built like a helicopter to monitor coastal restoration.

Ramachandran said he's looking for grants and other agencies that could pay for such projects. So far, the university has spent about half a million dollars in state and federal grant money on unmanned aircraft projects.

Ramachandran said he would like the program to be more expansive, but after "severe budget cuts, I had to bring the whole thing down. ... I was more tied up with keeping the (geomatics) program alive," he said.

Nicholls is the only agency in the state with a permit to fly unmanned aircraft, FAA records show.

Unmanned aircraft are ideal for coastal areas, Ramachandran said. The university had its drone during the 2010 BP oil spill, but the FAA suspended Nicholls' ability to use it during that time. Looser regulations in the future may allow a drone to be used to monitor a similar disaster, he said.

"Right after a disaster, this will be an ideal way to get imaging," he said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has shown an interest in collaborating with Ramachandran and his research, he said.

"What they're doing is really great," Easterling said of Nicholls' program. "We consider them to be pioneers and experts in an industry and research field that's going to be very large in the coming years."

Nicholls' drones are not to be confused with the U.S. Department of Defense's drones, or unmanned combat air vehicles. Research drones do not have weapons onboard like combat drones.

Still, the FAA's expansion of drones has caused privacy advocates like the American Civil Liberties Union to caution the FAA to restrict the aircraft's use. However, the ACLU specifically lists "geological inspections and environmental surveys" as examples of ways in which "privacy will not be substantially affected," according to a report published a year and a half ago.